Build componet help

[MajorM]

Im new to the forums but hav spent a little time going through the various forums and it seems you are prety well versed in te computer world. So with that said i could use some help on a new computer i want to build.

Here is the info from the sticky.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? Etc
- Pretty much all of the above. I want a great picture but still need some speed for gaming. I’m into first person shooters (Crysis, Battlefield series etc.), Photo editing and am getting into some web design.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- ~$1500-$2000. Tax and shipping are not included.

3) Where do you live?
- South Carolina (USA)

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
- CPU (looking into the i7 930)
- RAM (6 or 12 gigs? and who’s chips. I’ve used corsair and Gskill in the past. )
- GPU (still don’t know on ATI vs. Nvidia or which model other than the 5970 probably wont work money wise.)
- Motherboard
- Maybe a sound card (depends on if there is a pci slot or just pci express on the motherboard)
- Hard drive (thinking about the caviar blue 640 gig 3 Gb/s or the caviar black 1 TB 6 GB/s
- 1 monitor (23” or 24”)
- OS Win 7 pro or ultimate 64 bit (don’t know if ill really use bitlocker)
- Power supply (thinking about Corsair 1000W modular (I also run the watercooling pump off of the PSU.)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- Haf X case
- 2 DVD drives
- Sound card maybe (its pci) Sound blaster X-fi fatality
- Keyboard and mouse
- I have the various cables as well and my watercooling for the CPU (if the video card needs it more I could use it for that and get a block.) With only a 120x2 radiator is doesn’t do well for both.

6) Will you be overclocking?
- Down the road

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
- I’m looking into a 23” or 24” (it just needs to fit in a 22” wide hole. I’m looking for good sharp picture for photo editing but also one that wont lag too much for gaming. 1900x 1080 resolution atleast. Capable of 3D with the right hardware would be nice.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- Within the next 30 days unless something significant tech wise changes.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
- Overclocking features
- Sli or Crossfire (may not do it right off but I want the capability)
- SATA 6 Gb/s
- USB 3.0
- i7 1366 support
- Good heat dissipation.
(Right now I’m not using RAID and I’ve never even tried firewire.)

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
- No

Thanks for any help.

 

[Dangman]

Quick and dirty build:
$485 - Intel Core i7-930 CPU + Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58 ATX Motherboard Combo
$145 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$460 - Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$230 - Corsair 1000HX Modular PSU
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
---
Total: $1495 plus tax and shipping

That Samsung drive outperofmrs the WD 640GB Blue and performs just as well as the Caviar Black 1TB 6Gb/s. Unless you can get Windows 7 Pro or Ult for less than Windows 7 Home Premium, 7HP will meet all of your needs.

 

[hossdaddy]

Quick and dirty build:
$485 - Intel Core i7-930 CPU + Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58 ATX Motherboard Combo
$145 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$460 - Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$230 - Corsair 1000HX Modular PSU
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
---
Total: $1495 plus tax and shipping

That Samsung drive outperofmrs the WD 640GB Blue and performs just as well as the Caviar Black 1TB 6Gb/s. Unless you can get Windows 7 Pro or Ult for less than Windows 7 Home Premium, 7HP will meet all of your needs.

Danny isnt 1000w overkill? Even if he goes sli on the gtx 460 he doesnt need 1000w's?

 

[Dangman]

Danny isnt 1000w overkill? Even if he goes sli on the gtx 460 he doesnt need 1000w's?

Yes and no. It's overkill if he doesn't do any overclocking. It isn't that much overkill if he does OC. A Core i7 930 OC'd to 4.2Ghz and GTX 460 SLI will use roughly 600W at full load. Considering that PSUs are more quieter, efficient, and longer lasting when you're in the 40% to 60% range of their output, I fiigured might as well go for a 1000W.

 

[HardwareGuru]

As far as 23" and 24" monitors, consider the Dell U2311H or the HP ZR24w.

 

[MajorM]

Ive never owned a large monitor so im at a loss on the performance with it. Right now i have a 19" and am running a single 8800GTX. Needless to say i have to turn down the settings for most games. Id like something i can keep the high settings with so if thats the overclocked 460 then that would be great.

With that said anything will seem faster than my current system. I hate it but even my laptop is faster than my desktop. It has a GTX 260M in it.

As for the monitor ill look over the posts here about them and see how the reviews faired. Both seemed ok from the few ive read so far. Whats the story with the 3D capabilities? Is that something to even bother with? I talked with the dell people about the 23" alienware and the guy i talked with knew next to nothing. The review i read said it gave up a good bit of image quality for performance but it did have the 3d capability though.

Ive never used Samsung drives. Are they pretty reliable compared to the other brands? If it compares with the 6Gb/s rate and the other specs of the black its definatly worth looking into.

As for the PSU i thought the 1000 would be good like Danny said to run a little easier and to allow for any future hardware changes. With it being modular i can also spend a little more time getting the cable management cleaner and planned to relocate the plugs in the process of sleeving them. I still need to look up the draw of my water pump to get an idea what load that adds.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[MajorM]

What do yall think about the motherboard? I am stuck between EVGA and Gigabyte. EVGA seems to have some great support but it seems many people like Gigabyte. Im at a loss on which model as well. I have a PCI sound card id like to use and only plan on one video card for the moment but will add another in time. Even though ive read the 6gb/s sata isnt that great yet id still like to have that capability with usb 3.0 as well.

For the time being i may get the dell monitor and just wait on the 120hz tech until a better screen comes out.

 

[Dangman]

I have a bias towards Gigabyte motherboards hence my original recommendation. Then again, that Gigabyte is one of the better bang for the buck motherboards out there.

Just go for the motherboard from the company you feel the most comfortable with.

 

[MajorM]

Would you say the 3UDR you said is the better option vs the UD5 or 7?

 

[Dangman]

Would you say the 3UDR you said is the better option vs the UD5 or 7?

The UD3R is the better bang for the buck choice than the UD5 and UD7.

 

[tiraides]

The UD3R has less features than the UD5 or UD7, but it's also cheaper. Then again, most users wouldn't use all of the features on a UD5 or UD7 board.

For now, stick with the UD3R board and 6GB of RAM. Get the "cheap" G.Skill DDR3 1600 kit with 9-9-9-24 timings. Those timings are irrelevant compared to the fact that the RAM runs at 1.5V-1.6V, which is especially important if you're considering overclocking.

Which "feature" of Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate do you need? You can replicate the primary features of W7 Pro (Windows XP Mode) and W7 Ultimate (BitLocker Drive Encryption) on W7 Home Premium by using freeware software (Virtual PC and TrueCrypt, respectively); you don't really need to spend the extra money.

In fact, what do you need this computer to do? Rather than spend all this money on stuff that you want, you should ensure that the money you do spend enables you to buy and build a computer that fits your needs. Who knows? You might even have enough left over for a new monitor.